May i] PROCEEDINGS. [1894.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.By P. le Page Renouf.CHAPTER LXXXIII.
Chapterwherebyone assumeth the formof the Bennu bird.Let me wheel roundin whirls, let me turn like the Turning
One,let me flourish like a flower andkeepmyselfhiddenlikethe
Hider.(1)
I am the Barley cornof every god.
I am the four Yesterdaysof those sevenUraeusdeitieswhoare
bornin Amenta; Horuswhogivethlightby means of his own body;
the god who is against SutuwhenThothis between them,as in that
dispute of the Prince of Sechem withthe Spirits of Annu where
the river is between them.(2)
I come forthby day and disclose myselfat the head of the gods.
I am the god who chasethall boastfulness. (3)
Notes.- There is here a play on the words pa, Jieper, rut and Set. The
Turning Oneis the god Chepera. The Tortoise
derivesits name (thehider),fromthe habitof drawing its body within
its shell. On the flight of the Bennusee the firstnote of next
chapter.
- The Nilelies between the opposite shoresof the Nomes of
Letopolis(Sechem)andHeliopolis(Annu). - The laterrecensionshave " I am Chonsu whoputtetha stop
to all boastfulness." But in the early copiesChonsuis taken in its
primitivesensethe chaser anddoesnot require the verb <=>to
govern'boastfulness.'
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